That he postponed the bigger battle
was due quite as much to the singleness of purpose which was his best
gift as to the desire to spare his father. Telling himself resolutely
that the reformation of the railroad company's political methods was his
chief object, and the only one which warranted him in retaining his
place on the Company's payrolls, he held aloof when his father's name
was mentioned and bent himself to the task of providing the means for
the subjugation of Gantry--and of Gantry's and his own superiors, if
need be.
The securing of evidence of the kind which would really give him the
whip-hand promised to be a delicate undertaking. Men like McDarragh
talked openly enough about the illegal special freight rates, but talk
was not evidence. Curiously enough, while he was trying to devise some
way of obtaining the tangible proof without using his semiofficial
position in the company's service as a lever, the thing itself was
thrown at him. From some mysterious source a rumor went out that the
special rates were in jeopardy; and the very men with whom he had talked
began to write him importunate letters begging him to deny the rumor.
With a sheaf of these letters in his pocket, each one inculpating both
parties to the illegal "deals," Blount grew gayly exultant. The natural
inference was that Gantry and "the powers" had been finally forced to
yield--that he had won his victory.
Pages:
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200